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Boston Celtics Gameday HQ

BOSTON’S 9 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 10
SEASONS
The Miami Heat’s recent run of four consecutive Finals
appearances is deservedly lauded. Only three other teams can lay
claim to at least four straight shots at the title, but only the 1957-66
Celtics can lay claim to winning more than a pair during their run. Red
Auerbach’s Boston Celtics, who dominated the entire decade of the
1960s won nine titles during their 10-year Finals streak. Led by Bill
Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam and K.C. Jones, Tom Heinsohn, John Havlicek
and Don Nelson among others won every season from 1959 through
1966, then after getting derailed by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, the
C’s went for back-to-back titles in 1968 and ’69 for good measure
The Celts preceded the run by making the Finals in 1957 and ’58,
splitting with the St. Louis Hawks. The ’60s gave birth to the rivalry
with the Lakers, as the Celtics thwarted them seven times in the
Finals (poor Elgin Baylor and Jerry West).
The “Showtime” Lakers dominated the ‘80s, winning five titles and
making eight Finals appearances and Jordan’s Bulls had their “Repeat
Three-peat,” winning six titles in eight years in the ’90s (had Jordan
not retired for a year and a half, the Bulls might have had a shot), but
no dynasty matches the Celtics.
With today’s transience of players, the San Antonio Spurs’ four
titles and five Finals in 12 years or the Heat’s two and four may be as
close as anyone gets. In fact, we should consider retiring—or at least
redefining—the term “dynasty,” unless it applies to that run of Celtics.
MICHAEL JORDAN’S 10 SCORING TITLES
From 1987 through 1998, the only question surrounding the NBA
scoring race was: Who will come in second behind Michael Jordan?
Jordan winning the scoring title was pretty much assured, and
he took on all comers, regardless of position. During his scoring
run, Jordan topped Atlanta forward Dominique Wilkins, the era’s
most dynamic small
forward and the
last person to beat
Jordan for a scoring
title (Nique’s 30.3 ppg
in 1985-86 bested
Jordan as he only
played in 18 games
after rehabbing from
a broken foot) prior
to his Airness’ run,
four times. He bested
power forward Karl
Malone, the NBA’s
second all-time
leading scorer,
four times. He also
knocked off the
decade’s top two
centers, Houston’s
Hakeem Olajuwon
and Orlando’s
Shaquille O’Neal.
Jordan Abdul-Jabbar
During that span, Jordan did fail to win two scoring titles. In 1993-
94, Jordan was retired, too busy trying to master hitting a baseball.
And in 1994-95, he ended his baseball sabbatical to play in just 17
games (he did average 26.9 ppg, which if he qualified, would have
placed him third that season).
When Jordan took the scoring crown, he was usually decisive
about it. There was only one instance, his last scoring title in 1997-
98 as a 34-year-old, that Jordan did not win the scoring title by
more than a basket (O’Neal was the second-place finisher, 0.4 ppg
behind Jordan’s 28.7). Jordan’s average ppg during his 10 scoring
title seasons: 32.11
Even legendary scorers—Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the NBA’s scoring
king and Wilt Chamberlain who averaged 50 points in a season and
once notched a 100-point game—cannot lay claim to Jordan’s long
run of dominance above the competition. Abdul-Jabbar only twice
led the League in points per game while Chamberlain dominated the
category for his first seven seasons before he slowed down. Jordan
was able to sustain his greatness, knocking down the old guard
of scorers like Larry Bird, Bernard King and Alex English, besting
contemporaries like Wilkins, Malone and Patrick Ewing, while staving
off new bloods like O’Neal, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant.
Jordan’s 10 scoring titles hasn’t been challenged. Bryant draws
many MJ comparisons, but he’s only taken the scoring crown
twice. Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James have put up some big
seasons, but each have only one scoring crown and at 30, neither
will likely cop any more. Kevin Durant is a supreme scorer at just
26 with four scoring titles already, but he also plays in the same
lineup as the explosive Russell Westbrook, making the requisite six
more a long shot.
KAREEM’S 38,387 POINTS
There has never been a scorer like Abdul-Jabbar. In college, he
started out as Lew Alcindor, a 7-2 center for the UCLA Bruins that
dominated so much that the NCAA changed the rules to outlaw
dunking in an attempt to even the playing field (it worked somewhat
as Kareem’s scoring dropped in the subsequent years).
It would turn out to be a
blessing in disguise. With the
high-percentage dunk taken
out of his repertoire, Abdul-
Jabbar reinvented himself,
coming up with the skyhook
and became the most lethal
scorer ever to play.
From 1969, when he came into
the League as 22-year-old with
Milwaukee through 1986, when
he was center for “Showtime”
Lakers at age 38, Kareem was as
dependable for two points as the
sunrise at providing light.
Unlike the high scoring Wilt
Chamberlain before him, Abdul-
Jabbar dominated without
dominating his other four
teammates. Although he was
clearly his team’s best option
during most of his NBA career,
Abdul-Jabbar only averaged
about 18 shots per game, with no more than 24.9 one season. To
compare, Wilt averaged 22.5 attempts in his career with a highwater
mark of 39.5 attempts one season.
The key to Kareem’s greatness was his slow-burning consistency:
Nathaniel S. Butler, Dick Raphael/NBAE/Getty Images